James Peale, Sr.
James Peale, Sr.
1749 - 1831
Painter, brother of (1) Charles Willson Peale. Charles encouraged him to become a painter; James also worked as a frame-maker for his brother until the Revolution, in which he served as a lieutenant. From 1779 James shared Charles’s practice, specializing in miniatures. His early work, occasionally confused with Charles’s, shows his brother’s influence. After 1794, his style became clearly his own: more delicate with subtle colour harmonies, softened outlines and free handling; it may be distinguished by a faint violet tone in the shadows and the inconspicuous signature ‘IP’. His miniatures of male subjects are frequently superior to his portraits of women, for example Benjamin Harwood (1799; Baltimore, Mus. & Lib. MD Hist.), but his meticulous attention to costume and his success in imparting colour and sparkle to skin and eyes, as in the lovely portrait of Mrs John McCluney (1794; Washington, DC, N. Mus. Amer. A.), compensate for drawing deficiencies.
A versatile artist, James also painted landscapes (On the Schuylkill, 1830; Cincinnati, OH, A. Mus.), historical works (Ambush of Captain Allan McLane, 1803; Salt Lake City, U. UT, Mus. F.A.), conversation pieces (The Artist and his Family, c. 1795–8; Philadelphia, PA Acad. F.A.) and oil portraits (Maria and Sarah Miriam Peale, c. 1807; Philadelphia, PA Acad. F.A.). He was most fluent with still-life, in which field he was one of the first and highly influential American practitioners (see fig.). His exuberant fruit pieces reveal a mastery of design, subdued colour and deep shadowing, as in the Still-life: Fruit (1820s; San Francisco, CA, de Young Mem. Mus.).
In 1782 James Peale married Mary Claypoole (1753–1829), daughter of the Philadelphia painter James Claypoole. Of their six surviving children, three daughters became professional painters and James Peale jr (1789–1876) an amateur landscape painter. [Lillian B. Miller. "Peale." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed September 10, 2014, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T065922pg2.]
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